Getting a permit to burn excess natural gas at Texas oil wells is getting a little bit harder. Texas Railroad Commissioners limited an oil driller to flaring gas for just one year as opposed to the two years it sought at a meeting Tuesday. The commission approved 31 other requests from oil and gas companies, including five more to flare gas, without any changes. Commissioner Jim Wright said a well not having pipeline service is no longer a good enough reason to flare, the industry practice of burning off natural gas produced as a byproduct of drilling for oil. The comments mark a shift in thinking at the agency, ... (full story)